Safety performance measurement Qualitative

There are many ways to categorize safety performance measures. They are often classified as trailing or leading indicators, outcome or process oriented, results or activity-based measures, downstream factors or upstream factors, and/or qualitative or quantitative metrics. 

Even for the large organization with significant annual hours worked, in addition to historical data, hazard-specific and qualitative performance measures (safety audits, perception surveys, the incident... 

There are a variety of numerical scoring systems for the elements reviewed when safety audits are made. The scorings are subjective assessments that are eventually translated into a finite score. My experience has been that the final score often did not relate to the accident experience that eventually evolved. Nevertheless, safety audits, properly conducted, provide highly effective, qualitative performance measures. 

One of the main advantages of using performance measures is that they enable companies to express the results of a safety process in quantitative, not qualitative, terms that can then be analyzed to determine efficiency of safety and health processes (Leandri 2001,39). These measurements permit identification and prioritization. They also identify the most rewarding efforts and allow prioritization of company-wide issues. 

Performance measurements are grouped into two categories qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative safety measurements include checklists and narrative evaluations from accident report forms. Quantitative performance measures include any performance measures to which a number can be assigned. Measurement is crucial to achieving excellence in safety from two broad standpoints (Petersen 1998) ... 

Qualitative performance measurements, such as checklists, are commonly used to assess the status of safety and health programs. Quantitative, or objective, performance measurements are necessary for precision, consistency, and reproducibility. 

To reliably perform qualitative and quantitative analyses on body fluids and tissue, the clinical laboratorian must understand the basic principles and procedures that affect the analytical process and operation of the clinical laboratory. These include the knowledge of (1) the concept of solute and solvent, (2) units of measurement, (3) chemicals and reference materials, (4) basic techniques, such as volumetric sampling and dispensing, centrifugation, measurement of radioactivity, gravimetry, thermometry, buffer solution, and processing of solutions, and (5) safety. ... 

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